A Project of the South Asia National Outreach Consortium
Fourteen-year-old Kavi dreams of escaping her impoverished village life in Sri Lanka and finding freedom through her poetry. After receiving a scholarship to an elite school in Colombo, Kavi is caught between two worlds: her rural home and the privileged urban life of her classmates. Set against the backdrop of the 1998 Sri Lankan civil war, Kavi’s journey explores themes of resilience, belonging, and self-discovery. (Grades 3-7)
Prema is looking forward to the annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival, but her anticipation is marred - her mother has become sick from the chemicals leached into the river by the very plaster Ganesha statues used to celebrate the holiday! While walking by the riverbank, Prema has an idea. Using the clay from the river to build the Ganesha statues will let the people celebrate as usual, while also preserving the health of the river water. Though it takes her many tries, and the help of her friends, Prema creates enough clay Ganesha statues to make a difference in her village’s celebrations. This colorful picture book raises awareness of ecological issues surrounding the festival. (Grades PK-3)
Join us for a conversation with Shirin Shamsi, author of The Moon from Dehradun, moderated by South Asia Book Award committee member Ritu Radhakrishnan. Monday, June 3, 2024, 4-5 PM CDT Watch it on YouTube Here! The Moon from Dehradun: A Story of Partition In time for the 75th anniversary of the Partition of British India, this picture …
Himalaya, (or jimālaia in Sanskrit), means “abode of snow” is a rich non-fiction book that provides a factual examination of the Himalayas. Himalaya is focused on a specific area of the mountainous range that runs throughout China, India, and Nepal. With beautifully illustrated representations of the regional cultures, readers can examine the history and legends across the various communities. This book may serve as a wonderful reference book for K-12 educators, and also provides a source of adventure for readers as part of a classroom library, or can be used as a picture walk with younger readers to explore different areas around the world, featuring positive and historically accurate representations of South Asians. This book provides many opportunities for readers of different ages. (Grades 1-3)
The story chronicles the lives of Noor and Salahudin, close high school friends who share their Pakistani-American heritage. Their familial challenges unfold as Noor confronts an antagonistic uncle while Salahudin navigates his mother's illness and father's alcohol dependency. The novel thoughtfully delves into themes of family ties, trauma, grief, abuse, alcoholism, racism, kindness, forgiveness, and hope. (Grades 9-12)
A story about love and family that spans two generations - a connection that brings Ayesha as a visiting graduate student to the US, and Mira, adopted and raised by her moms in the US, to face each other. The narratives reveal how complexities in South Asian cultures about teen relationships, out-of-wedlock pregnancies become more fraught across differences in social class. (Grades 9-12)
The People of the Indus is a unique, well-researched approach to the history of a region. The authors transform a historical period into an engaging graphic novel. The reader will willingly visualize their way through this history. (Grades 7-9)
On her first journey away from home, sixteen-year-old Hira experiences many unfamiliar situations, including the threat of tuberculosis. Through it all, Hira faces her own misconceptions about America while dealing with Islamophobia from her new friends and host family in Oregon. (Grades 10-12)
Young Asiyah learns her family history through her grandmother’s chest of richly patterned katha quilts, hand-stitched from layers of repurposed, memory-laden, sari fabric. Asiyah’s tale is accompanied by wordless story panels that reveal their Bengali cultural history. These panels resemble a family photo album, reminiscent of Pattachitra, cloth-based narrative scroll paintings. (Preschool-Grade 3)
A young girl named Paro comes from a family of Bharatanatyam dancers, and feels out of place at her first ballet class. The other students seem more skilled and knowledgeable, and her background in Bharatnatyam seems like an obstacle to becoming a beautiful ballerina. With help from the dance teacher and her mother, Paro and her classmates all come to appreciate and celebrate Bharatanatyam. Beautifully illustrated and rich with historical connections, this book provides representation to South Asians in a space where they are not typically seen or encouraged. (Grades 1-2)
